Holdup
by PrimeEmily135
Summary: It was supposed to be simple. Just a trip to the exchange to trade foreign currency for units. In. Out. No complications. Unfortunately it is never that easy for Ravagers… (rated strong T for swearing and some suggested material) "Ravagers" series (3).


**This is the second installation of my "Ravagers" series, as I have now dubbed it. The first one was "Three Times Yondu was a Bastard". I have a few more planned to come out, but since this took me two months to write I wouldn't expect the next one to come out for a while. These do not have any sort of order at the moment, they all just kind of stand alone. When I get enough stories out that they need a timeline I will post it to my profile.**

 **Thanks for reading! I love you all! :)**

* * *

::Holdup::

It was supposed to be a simple. Just a trip to the exchange to trade foreign currency for units. In. Out. No complications. Unfortunately, it is never that easy for Ravagers…

* * *

(Yondu's POV)

The air on Xandar always tastes like chemicals. Every time I step foot on that blasted planet I want to puke. Kraglin said once that the air is constantly filtered through vents underground because the planet accumulated too much pollution. They add evaporated gasses of some sort back into the air before sending it out into the general public. Something about there not being enough trees, or grass, or.. _something_ to regulate the bad gasses without help.

In any case, I don't enjoy breathing while on Xandar. The taste is foul, like walking through a hospital. One would think that someone like me would be used to recycled air, living in a spacecraft and all. All I have to say to that is: _bull crap_! I don't add extra chemicals to the air in my ship! It just ain't natural.

Despite my loathing of Xandar, it is the only reliable place to exchange currency for the surrounding quadrants. So, unless we have a job offer that comes from Xandar, we steer clear of it until we need to exchange currency for units. It was unfortunately one of those days.

It could be worse. I always try to spin a more " _cheerful"_ perspective on things. We could have been stuck on Valatrous, surrounded by the natives at spear point… again. Poor people, don't even know that space is more than inky blackness with little dots all over it. Sometimes I envy the simplicity of their minds. Hard to believe that I was once like them…

Well, got a little off track there.

So, it was one of those days on Xandar where I found myself standing in front of the Exchange, waiting in a line to get inside. I held on tightly to a satchel of assorted currencies, feeling the weight of it in my hand and smirking. We made a pretty good profit this trip. Four big jobs in a month and a half, plus a dozen or so smaller ones, gave us enough currency to stock the Eclector to the brim with new equipment and good booze for a few months. The news made quite a few Ravagers cheer.

It was a relatively cool day on Xandar. A breeze was going through the air, and that was just enough to make standing outside bearable. It was around noon, or maybe dinnertime. Either way, I was hungry and ready to have this errand over with.

"Line's moving Captain, don't get distracted." Layla spoke up beside me, drawing my attention. She smirked slyly, obviously hearing the growling going on in my stomach.

I sent her a half-hearted glare, and took two steps forward. "Yeah, hard to stay focused when the line's moving _so fast_ …" she stifled a laugh at my sarcasm, something most people couldn't stand, and all but snorted when I looked over at her. "What?"

Her expression turned serious again, looking away from me to glance back up the line. Her voice dropped so that only I could hear her. "Are you always this cranky when you're hungry?" Even with her head turned I could see the smile creep back on her face.

My expression soured. "You're lucky you're the best damn mechanic I've ever hired."

"Yeah," she nodded, smirking at me with those bright blue eyes of hers, "and don't you forget it."

I sighed, allowing myself a small smile as I looked back ahead of us. Layla was new to my crew. I hired her almost a year ago, a little after Peter decided to strike out for himself. I never realized before just how much the boy worked in the engine room and on the M-class fighters until he was gone, and soon found myself in the market for a replacement. I went through thirteen different mechanics before I stumbled upon her on Xandar. She was working in a shop fixing up a Z-quad passenger ship. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail, her blue eyes behind a welding mask as she welded a patch onto the side. There was a smile on her face, but her eyes held the same look most of the men I recruit have. A sense of being trapped…

" _I already have a job."_

" _I didn't ask if you had a job, I asked if you wanted a better one…"_

"Oh, sweet air conditioning, how I have missed thee!"

Layla's extravagant exclamation brought me back to the present situation at hand, before I could get too deep into the past. We had finally made it inside the exchange, with only about fifty people ahead of us, but at least we were out of the sun. "After this, we'll get a bite to eat and then pick up your parts. I know this sandwich place a little ways from here, it's got some stuff you might like."

"Sounds good." She nodded, her own stomach giving a low growl. I quirked an eyebrow at her, and her cheeks flushed. It's funny, for such an (shall we say) _expressive_ woman, Layla can become embarrassed over the simplest of things. Every time I see her something happens to make that blush crop up on her cheeks. I can't figure it out. Sometimes I think she has some sort of medical condition. But as long as it doesn't interfere with her work I guess it doesn't matter.

Taking a peak up the line again, I noticed with a frustrated huff that someone was making an issue about something. I leaned over, flashing my partner for the afternoon a smile-like-grimace. "Fifty units says we don't get outta here for another hour." I wagered, wondering if she'd take me up on it. When she first started with the Ravagers she was a perfect daddy's girl, since then she had slowly started developing Ravager habits.

I waited, gaging her thoughtful expression for a moment before she leaned towards me with her reply. "It looks like fire is catching at booths nineteen and thirty-four, as well as twelve." She pointed out the heated arguments going on at each station. "One hundred units, _and_ you buy lunch, says that we don't get out of here for at least two hours."

I smirked, extending a hand. "You're on girly. It can't be more than an hour and a half." We shook on it briefly, and returned to our statutory state in line.

Layla sighed dramatically beside me, stretching her arms and shoulders as she glanced at the time. "Of course, it'll probably be somewhere around three hours. You Ravagers have terrible luck."

I grunted in response, thinking over that statement. It was true, even in the quickest and easiest of operations something always went wrong. This trip was supposed to be: in, out, and with no complications. Unfortunately for us, it was never that easy for a Ravager. We had already been standing in line for over an hour, and that hour was spent _outside_. One of us had to have been dehydrated at this point.

My mind was struck with a thought of something I'd nearly passed over, and I narrowed my eyes at my companion. "You say 'You Ravagers' as if you _ain't_ one of us." She had been looking at the floor, but at the sound of my words her gaze jumped up to mine. She was shocked that I had actually heard that, I could tell. Or maybe she was just surprised that I brought it up.

"Well…" she looked down at the hem of her black tank-top, fingers playing absently with the seam. "It's been almost a year now, and I don't see Ravager red on my shoulders…" She mumbled, dropping the seam to instead clasp her hands behind her back. Her gaze still wouldn't meet mine. "You give them out to each Ravager personally. I guess I just figured, since I haven't been made uniform official that you would probably just dump me back here on Xandar in a few months…" She took a half step forward as the line moved. "Plus, I'm the only girl on the Eclector. Over half of the ship wants me gone, I'm just waiting for someone to tell me I'm fired…"

I looked at her for a moment, deciphering what she just said, and came upon my conclusion. "That's stupid." Her eyes jumped up to meet mine for a brief moment before being diverted back to the floor.

"Is it?" she didn't sound convinced.

"You're damn right it's stupid." I snapped, pulling on her arm, forcing her to face me. "You mean to tell me that you thought you weren't one of us because you're not wearing a jacket?" She shrugged, her cheeks turning scarlet. "Hell, woman, you don't even wear jackets! How am I supposed to get a jacket that fits you if I ain't got something to go off of? The first thing any normal person does when they get a job up on a spacecraft is buy a jacket, because it's _cold_ up in space! All I gotta do is read a size tag…" I huffed, cursing inwardly at how complicated women were. This was a prime reason why I never had women aboard my ship before. "Women. They're too damn complicated and overthink everything…"

"I have a jacket, I just don't wear it when I'm working." Layla shot back, crossing her arms. "It's too hot in the engine room and the hanger bay, and I don't want to get grease stains on it."

"I ain't ever seen you wear it." I countered, eyes narrowing at yet another problem further up the line.

"Probably because I _hardly leave_ the engine room or the hanger bay." She growled, her cheek muscles clenching as she ground her teeth together. "I work sixteen hour shifts, on a hard day, with little to no breaks. When I'm not working in the engine room I'm working on the fighters, and when I'm not there either I'm sleeping. And when I'm not sleeping, I'm hastily shoveling that burnt protein that you call food down my throat so I don't keel over!"

 _What the hell just happened? She was happy not two minutes ago!_ I gave her a quick once over, noticing the tension she was holding in her body and the way she was clenching and unclenching her fists. "What's got your panties in a twist all of a sudden?"

She blinked hard, her eyelids forming creases as she grimaced. "Nothing. _I'm fine_." She snipped, and then looked a bit horrified at the tone she used at me (as she should have). I'm not a pushover, I demand respect from my underlings. She quickly pushed out an apology, shaking her head as she dug through the satchel she carried. I peaked over her shoulder, as she was distracted, taking account of what she was shuffling through, and what she grasped onto when she was finally finished.

 _Pain killers. Damn, is it already her time of the month again? Explains why she's so moody. I really need to put these dates down on a calendar so I can track when she'll get like this_ … Yet another reason to not have women on as part of my crew I guess. Why did I hire her again? Oh yeah, she's one of the best mechanics I've ever seen. I still can't believe it sometimes. What she lacks in general strength she makes up for with near perfect knowledge of her work.

Her hand closed tightly around the bottle of medication, and I looked away from her just as she looked up again. "Hey, I'll be right back. I'm going to go get some water. Do you want some?"

I nodded, calling after her as she ducked out of the line. "Better hurry up, wouldn't want you to get lost trying to find me further up the line." I saw her shake her head, a small smile playing across her face, and then she turned down a hall to find a vendor.

Left to myself at that point, I heaved a sigh. We would be waiting in this stupid line long after she got back. I almost wished that I had brought Kraglin with me instead of Layla, at least then I would have someone (not hormonal) to talk to. But, Kraglin had specifically sent Layla in his place to pick up the parts they needed to fix some of the M-ships. I never understood why he did that. It seemed lately that every chance he got Kraglin forced Layla to do his dirty work. _Although, I suppose shopping for legal parts can't really be considered dirty work… But still, he never used to do this. He always made supply runs with me…_

Shaking myself, I forced my thoughts back to the line I was in. I hated waiting in lines, and it was always worse when I was alone. Being alone and waiting always gave me way to much time to think. I criticize women for thinking too much, but my brain tends to have a mind of its own. If I don't find something to distract myself with, or drown myself in booze, I get to thinking about things I don't fancy thinking about. I get to remembering that Peter is out there somewhere, damn the kid, probably getting himself killed. I pride myself on not worrying about anything, so having the boy on my mind is annoying. Then, my brain goes back further and I start remembering my life before Peter, before the Ravagers. My people, my home… the reserve-

My whole body jolted suddenly, and because my mind was too distracted I didn't even know why. I had ignored all noise up to this point, but it was suddenly much louder and everyone was screaming. As I looked around the building, everything was in total chaos! There were people running, trampling over each other in their haste to find an exit, but my eyes were drawn to eight figures now standing above the crowed with energy blasters.

"Damn it!" I cursed, ducking my head as a burst of electricity was shot in my direction. The people that had been around me screamed and scattered to hide. I ducked behind some sort of fence like barrier, reaching to my belt for my Yaka Arrow-

My eyes widened as I pawed at an empty sheath. I fumed, seething as I realized I had left it in my quarters to make some minor repairs later. "Great! Just Great!" I growled, sifting through my satchel to find anything I could use to defend myself. _Figures, I get caught up in a heist and leave everything on the blasted ship!_ I growled, casting a glance towards the nearest goon. I had counted eight, but for such a big target like the Exchange there might have been more. _There's probably four more wandering around the back hallways…_

That thought lead to another, and I'll admit I felt a bit sick inside. I looked around at my fellow hostages, scanning faces, but none were familiar. Layla was nowhere to be found. What if she put up a fight and they shot her? "Damn it Layla, where are you?" I mumbled, resuming my search through the satchel. I silently swore that if I left my communicator on the ship as well that I would forever afterwards walk around with it _glued_ to my person. I was under fire, with no weapons in the immediate area, and my partner was missing (not that she would have been much help in this situation considering she couldn't hurt a fly). My mind was racing, trying to think up a plan. First off, I had to find my engineer. I wanted to be sure that she was alive. After that…

 _I'll think of something…_ I assured myself.

My fingers closed down around the square shape of an emergency communicator, and I smashed the call button. Kraglin would receive the emergency signal… if he didn't I would beat the sh*t out of him.

* * *

Things had calmed down significantly after the robbers proclaimed their intentions to "take all the units the Exchange had to offer and kill anyone who tried to help the authorities". I stayed out of sight and as inconspicuous as I could, subtly inching closer to the hallway I had last seen my engineer disappear down. The robbers, if they could even be called that, were a bunch of amateurs. They were going about their operation all wrong. For starters, they weren't even covering their identities. No masks, no voice changers… It made the rest of us criminals look bad.

In any case, it was about this time that I later learned Layla was becoming aware of the situation at hand. I debriefed her after she recovered from shock, but that's a little further down the story.

She was coming out of the ladies room, sick to her poor stomach with cramps. She had taken more than the recommended dose of pain drugs and yet it hardly put a dent in her problem. I really do _not_ envy women. Moving on from that fact-

She wandered about the halls for a couple of minutes, not exactly eager to go back and stand in line, and aimlessly wandered around until she found a vending machine. Buying two water bottles, she took a gulp from one and then stashed them both into her bag _. Maybe I can go grab something to eat from one of the shops down the road._ She thought. _Yondu probably wouldn't miss me if I was gone for that long, and with that growling stomach of his I'm sure he wouldn't mind having that sandwich early… Still, I should probably run the idea by him first. Maybe ask him where that shop he was talking about is. Ask him what he would like._

Her insides made a nasty sound, and she pressed a hand over her belly. _Or maybe food isn't a good idea right now…_ She started back down the hall towards the main exchange area, and her insides churned again. _Yeah… maybe not a good idea… I hope this line moves quickly. I just want to go back to the Eclector and take a nice hot shower…_

Ever the typical woman, Layla continued to talk things over with herself in her brain all the way back to the room we were all taken hostage in. I saw her come in. She just walked in, half way into the room before realizing that something was wrong. And then she just _stopped_. Her eyes wide like an animal caught in headlights, she froze where she stood. It took me only a second to realize that there were now three guns pointed directly at her.

 _Sh*t!_

"Get down on the ground!" One of the bandits slunk up to her, the barrel of his blaster jammed up against her skull. "I said get down on the ground you b*tch!"

Layla, recovering from surprise, shakily started to kneel on the floor. I could tell that she wasn't going fast enough for the man however, and bit my tongue to keep from wincing outwardly as he hit her in the head with the butt of the blaster. She fell to the floor in a heap, curled in on herself as she covered her bleeding forehead with her arms.

"And stay down! Aktin!" The robber dumb enough to hit my crewmember, and name one of his buddies pointed at said buddy. "Go scout out the rest of the building. We gotta make sure there ain't nobody else hiding in here."

"Aw! But that's Kleb and Jason's job!"

"Just do it!"

The emergency communicator in my satchel buzzed quietly in response to my call. Kraglin had finally found it going off… I pulled the communicator out of the bag and held it behind my back as I scooted closer to the wall-like barrier. _Bastard hit my engineer… He's gonna pay for that._ I growled, a kind of anger I only get rarely starting to build up inside my chest. I typed out a quick message to Kraglin without attracting suspicion, and then shoved the device back into the bag.

* * *

It was some time, perhaps an hour or so, before anything happened. When it did though, it wasn't pretty. It escalated quickly, one moment some young guy starts talking to one of the robbers like he knows sh*t, and the next he was lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

Honestly, I could have cared less. The punk was saying things that could've gotten us all blown to hell. But I did recognize that the situation was something to be concerned about, if only for the reason that Layla was all up in the guy's business trying to stop the bleeding. It had been the guy sitting next to her, and that was a little close for my liking. I may treat my people like crap, but I take care of them. Whether she realized it or not, Layla was one of us.

I could hear the authorities screaming through their amplifiers outside of the building when they heard the weapon go off. Bunch of idiots. All they could do was sit around and wait until we were eventually given up to them or killed. Stupid. This entire situation was stupid. And I was stuck in the middle of it. Somehow, I had to get us out of here. And by us, I mean Layla and I. The rest of 'em could fend for themselves for all I cared. I was just waiting for Kraglin to finally make an appearance. Lazy idiot probably stopped for food on the way over…

My stomach gave another growl, and I rolled my eyes at myself. Now was _not_ a good time.

Layla was holding something over the man's wounds as she pressed down on it, trying to stifle the bleeding some. I could only partially see her from around the various obstructions between us, but she looked very calm and focused. I'll admit, I didn't think she'd be able to keep her cool in this situation. She wasn't exactly one for violence. So, I believe it is safe to say, I was impressed at how she handled herself.

She was speaking to the man, telling him lies that he would be okay and that we'd be out of this situation soon and all that crap. She was just trying to keep him calm, but even I could see that he was losing too much blood. It was everywhere. The hostages that were in her area had given her a wide circle of space to avoid the mess. There was no way in hell that man would survive, but I don't think she knew that…

Things carried on for another long stretch of time with little incident. Authorities still couldn't do sh*t because there were guns pointed at us, and the bandits couldn't do much more than wait as their buddy cracked the safe. The idiots didn't even know that the place went into an emergency lockdown at the touch of a button. I wondered briefly who had gathered their intelligence. Whoever it was should've been fired.

My communicator buzzed quietly in my satchel, and several nearby hostages glanced at me. I sent them a glare, "Shut up, don't look my way, and mind your own F*cking business." I snapped, my lips curling into a snarl at one man who didn't seem to get it. When finally all attention was away from me, I fished into the bag to see what Kraglin had to say.

::Be Ready::

Well sh*t. That wasn't much to go on but I'd heed it. I quickly stuffed the communicator back and began waiting again.

* * *

Turns out I didn't have to wait long for something to happen. Unfortunately it wasn't what I was hoping for. In the middle of negotiations, somehow, the damn nova officers provoked the bandits into threatening a choice few hostages. Instead of giving some of us up like they were asked to, they stood some of the hostages up and strapped some pressure bombs in their hands. If any one of them let go of the bombs the whole building would go up. At that moment, I realized that maybe they weren't as stupid as I thought they had been.

I shifted on my spot on the floor, leaning against the wall, calmly awaiting Kraglin's signal. I still had no clue what the man had planned, but I figured with Kraglin it would be simple enough for me to catch onto. I was more concerned that Layla might do something stupid before then.

Now, I know she ain't stupid. However, she ain't used to situations like this one. When I hired her she specifically requested that she be left out of all the excitement that involved blaster fire and blood. I couldn't promise her she wouldn't see any action, but I did recognize that she wasn't cut out for these things.

From where I was sitting I could still see her pressing cloth against that kid's wounds. She had been calm before, but that was now long gone. I could see it in her eyes that she was coming to see that he wasn't going to make it. She was still trying to save him, the poor sap, but there was no way he'd make it to the end of this. Kid wasn't making it easy on her either, honestly if I were closer by I'd have smacked him for some of the things he was saying to her. He was telling her all about his fiancé and how he was going to get married and all that trash, and it was tearing her apart on the inside! I knew she'd blame herself for not keeping him alive, but he was just making things worse.

 _This is taking way too damn long!_ I growled, rolling my eyes. The officers outside were scurrying around again at the sight of bombs, probably trying to come up with a new plan.

And I was just stuck there, watching my engineer watch a man die…

I closed my eyes for a few minutes, formulating a plan of my own based on what I thought Kraglin might be up to. I was pretty good in a fistfight, despite being shorter than most men, but I ain't stupid. I knew I didn't stand a chance fighting eight men with blasters in a room full of people without a weapon of my own. If I could have I would have been out of there the moment it all started.

My eyes snapped open at a familiar voice, yet once again it wasn't the one I was hoping for…

My gaze shot over to where Layla was now standing up, facing the man that had struck her down before. Her hands (covered in blood) were shaking, and she balled them into fists in an attempt to make the tremors stop, but to no avail. She addressed the robber bluntly, her shoulders squared and her head held high. I was proud of the level of confidence she displayed, but she was being stupid, and that I didn't appreciate one bit.

"If he isn't allowed to leave he'll die-" she was saying. The man rolled his eyes at her, sending her a depreciating look.

"He ain't going anywhere. Ain't nobody leaving until we crack this safe!"

"But he's _dying_!" she stressed, her voice carrying clearly across the silent room.

"Shut up b*tch! Get back on the ground before I take you into the other room. Nothing would make me happier than to force you to your knees." He sneered, stepping up closer to her. She flinched back as his hand wrapped around her wrist, and she attempted to pry herself away as he leaned in closer to whisper in her ear.

That last thing I remember seeing him do was lick her cheek.

After that, I was standing between them, and I had broken that f*cker's nose.

* * *

Now, I want to take this time to tell you that I really don't know why I did that. Later I told the crew that Ravagers take care of each other, and that if someone messes with one of us they mess with all of us. However, I wasn't thinking about this at the time. All I was thinking about was messing that f*cker up for even insinuating that he would rape her. I wouldn't judge a man for hiring a prostitute to get his rocks off, but rape was unacceptable. Even my standards aren't that low.

When I found myself standing in front of my engineer, between her and all of the guns now pointed at me, I couldn't help the smile creeping onto my lips at the sight of blood gushing from the man's face. Something about him in pain just made me giddy. Turns out that was all the prompting I needed to formulate a plan of my own. If Kraglin were smart he'd be able to jump in when he showed up.

Crossing my arms over my chest I scoffed at the men with their blasters trained on me. My smirk unnerved a few of them, I could tell, and a few more started to get this look like they understood they were in trouble.

"Now," I spoke out loud and clear so the whole building could hear me, despite the strain it put on my throat (I hate speaking loud, my voice ain't built for that), "I was perfectly content to let you idiots carry on about your business without interfering up till now. I know it can be a bit tiresome to have someone much more experienced come in and blow up an operation, and you all are having a hard enough time as it is. But-" I shook a finger at them, my playfully arrogant demeanor hardening to a loathing glare, "you messed with the wrong girl, and that's got me all riled up." I glanced back at Layla, who was once again attending to the deathly pale man.

"Shut up and get back down on the ground!" one of the robbers, took a step towards me and lifted his gun to my face. Now, inwardly my heart was racing. Outwardly I was still as stone.

"Put that toy down son before you hurt yourself." I waved it away from my face with a flick of my hand, looking up at the man who was a whole head taller than myself. "You're messing with someone way out of your league."

"Yo man!" one of the other robbers piped from the other side of the room. "He's wearing Ravager red!"

The word spread around the room like wildfire, and soon everyone was giving me a weary look. I was expecting this, and continued with my spiel. "You're damn right I'm a Ravager. I'm Yondu-f*cking-Udonta, and if you all want to live I suggest you get those puny toys you call blasters out of my face." I took a step forward, noting they all took a step back wherever they stood in the room, and my hand moved towards the empty sheath in my jacket. It was a bluff, I knew it but they wouldn't.

The communicator in my satchel buzzed, but I didn't look away from my audience. "Excuse me while I get this." I sneered, my other hand reaching into the bag to fish out the device. I held it up in front of me at eye sight to keep everyone in my field of vision.

::Heads up::

"Well it is about damn time!" I shouted.

A few minutes prior, Kraglin had arrived outside of the Exchange. He was arguing with the authorities about letting him shoot my Yaka arrow through a high up decorative window in order for me to deal with everyone inside. When the officers realized that something was going down, he sent me the message and took the initiative without the go ahead from them. This caused us some issue later, but in the end it was resolved with damage repair money coming out of Kraglin's pocket.

When he heard I got the message, as I assume he was hacked into the security microphones, he shot the arrow right through the window.

While on the inside, I heard my weapon when it smashed through the glass, and I smiled.

* * *

Hours later, after I had cleared things up with the authorities and forced them to open the exchange to let me do a transaction, I stepped off of my M-ship into the hanger bay of the Eclector. It had been one big mess. They had wanted to arrest us, Kraglin and I, because we were Ravagers. If it weren't for the mob of people saying that we'd just rescued the lot of them when the authorities couldn't, I doubt it would have been so easy to get away.

With my Yaka arrow on hand, I had sent Kraglin and Layla back to the Eclector ahead of me as I concluded some on-world business. I didn't really think too much about Layla until I got back and Kraglin was at the hanger bay to greet me, worried as hell. I guess I should have paid more attention to how the situation would have affected my only female crewmember, but hey- you live and you learn right?

"I don't know what's wrong with her Captain. One moment she was fine, and then we got here and she just-" Kraglin looked at me, helpless to find the words he needed to describe what happened. "She just won't stop…"

"Stop what?" I asked, concerned by the vagueness of that statement.

Kraglin stopped with me outside the communal shower hall, nodding to indicate that I should look inside. "Scrubbing, sir. She's been in there scrubbing her arms since we got back."

I ventured inside alone, noting immediately the lack of people in the room. The shower hall was one place that there was always someone, as hot water was the only thing we could actually get hot out in space, but the room was deserted. Only one figure, small and curled over a sink, was hidden in a far corner.

Layla had the hot tap on, letting it run over her hands as she scrubbed what was left of a bar of soap over her arms. From her fingertips to her elbows her skin was rubbed raw, even cracked and bleeding in some places. It was apparent by the steam rising from the sink faucet that the water she was using was way too hot, and it was apparent by the blank look in her eyes as she scrubbed that she couldn't feel it.

"Layla!" I snapped at her from halfway across the room, hoping I'd get her attention, but she didn't even flinch. It was like she had turned off the world around her. "Sh*t…" I cursed, crossing the room completely to stand beside her. "Layla, damn it woman!" I turned off the water stream, almost burning my own hands on the heated nobs. Although the water was now gone she didn't stop rubbing the soap all over her arms. She just kept scrubbing, her nails raking across her burned skin.

"Layla, stop it!" I grasped her hands, pulling them apart to force the behavior to stop. She didn't do anything. Just kind of stood there, her steam drenched hair stuck to her face as she stared blankly through me. I attempted to meet her gaze, but even looking directly at me she didn't seem to see me. " _Sh*t!_ Layla, don't do this! Snap out of it!" I was careful with my grip on her wrists, not wanting to damage the already injured skin, but I'm not exactly the most… shall we say, _gentle_ person. Handling her was not easy for me.

After a moment, her lips started moving, making soft noises I could almost discern as words. She blinked a few times, her head moving from side to side in an aggravated pattern. "…so much…wouldn't…so much…" she mumbled, her eyes starting to glisten with tears.

I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I took this as a sign that she was starting to come to. "Layla, speak up. What are you saying?" I released one of her arms carefully, noting that it just flopped down to her side. With my one free hand I wiped some strands of her golden hair out of her blue eyes, meeting them with mine. "What's wrong?"

Finally, she looked at me clearly, noticing that I was there. "I couldn't stop it…" she breathed in sharply as the tears in her eyes overflowed. "I couldn't stop it! He was just bleeding out! He was dying-He-he died and I couldn't-" Her hand moved to scratch at her arm again, but I was quick to restrain her. She looked frustrated, a pathetic whine leaving her throat before she exploded. "There was so much blood! I couldn't stop it! It just kept pouring out- _everywhere_! It was everywhere! And I-and I couldn't stop it! I tried to wash it off, but I can still _feel_ it! I can't get it off…" She continued to struggle against my grip, but I remained with my fingers wrapped firmly around her wrists. "He was going to get married… he had his whole life ahead of him! And I couldn't stop the bleeding…"

I ain't good dealing with emotional women. At this point I'm just happy that there was no one else around to see this. I got a reputation to uphold after all. But at this moment, I was almost more concerned about her. I only thought about my reputation after the ordeal was over.

Well, me being me, I did the only thing I really did well.

I insulted her.

"You're stupid." She looked up at me, bewildered, but I continued on. "You're injuring yourself over some stupid kid who was stupid enough to get himself killed. It wasn't your fault, so stop beating yourself up about it. Whether you believe it or not you are a Ravager now, and this is the type of crap you're going to be dealing with for the rest of your life. People die. Good, bad, innocent, it doesn't matter. Everyone dies. And it won't be pretty. This may be the first time you've seen it first hand, but I can promise you it won't be the last. Get a grip!"

Kraglin likes to say that I have no tact. He's probably right. I said I wasn't good at this, but dang it! I'll admit that was pretty bad even for me…

Luckily for me however, what I said seemed to shock her out of whatever it was she had sunk into. After some initial sniffles and wiping away of tears, she got her breathing under control enough to have an actual conversation. After some prompting I was able to get her side of what went down. She only paused a few times, taking a moment to compose herself before speaking of the incidents with the man that she had watched die. She was having a hard time of it, all the way up to the moment when she described when I had broken her assailant's nose. At that point, she cracked a small smile.

"Thank-you for that…" she said quietly, rubbing burn cream over her arms carefully. I had found some of it while she was telling her story and she had been gingerly treating herself with it since then.

I hummed in acknowledgement, nodding briefly.

"I mean it…" she continued, looking to where I was leaning against a wall. She was sitting down on a bench across from me, but even from that distance I could see that she was still shaking over the ordeal with the dead man. She was trying to distract herself from it at this point in the story, and I decided to let her. She'd suffered enough. "I thought he might…you know…"

"Yeah, I know. That's why I did something." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. We both went quiet after that but the silence ended quickly, being broken by a loud growling sound coming from her stomach.

Layla's face flushed red, and I smirked at her embarrassment.

"You're stomach hasn't forgotten about food I see." I was actually relieved to see that she was hungry. It made my little side stop before coming back to the Eclector actually worth while. "Here…" I opened my satchel, rummaging through it to find items wrapped in brown paper. I pulled out both, crossing the space between us to hand one of them to her. I sat down beside her as she took it, unwrapping mine in a hurry. "My treat." I said, taking a large bite out of the sandwich in my hand. After the long day, it felt pretty good to taste something that wasn't burnt protein. I hate to agree with Layla's earlier comment about the food we keep on board, but she was right when she criticized it. This sandwich was so much better than what we all normally had, and I dare say I took a moment to savor that.

We sat there in silence, each chewing our food carefully in the empty shower hall.

When I was almost finished with mine, and she was half done with hers, I reached to fish some things out of my pocket. I set the contents on the bench at the half way point between us wordlessly and kept eating. She paused to glance my way and then looked down at what I had placed between us, her eyes widened in surprise as she almost choked on her food.

I smiled. "Three hours and thirteen minutes. I checked." I made the wager for one hundred units, but after all she had been through I decided to double it.

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